How to Run for Police Jury or Parish Council in Louisiana

Most Louisiana parishes elect the members of their parish governing authority in 2027. In a parish governed by a police jury, voters elect police jurors from districts. In a parish that has adopted a home rule charter, voters elect parish council members and, under some charters, a parish president. You qualify with the clerk of court in your parish between Tuesday, August 3 and 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 5, 2027. The primary is on Saturday, October 9, 2027, and the general election, if one is needed, is on Saturday, November 20, 2027.

For a police juror or parish council member, the qualifying fee is $115, plus a $25 fee for the state's Campaign Sign Recycling Fund (R.S. 18:464(B)). Instead of paying, you may file a nominating petition. The Secretary of State's fee chart lists 100 signatures for these seats. The rules below come from the Louisiana Revised Statutes (R.S.) and the Secretary of State's candidate guides. Confirm them with your clerk of court.

For the full picture of the 2027 elections, see our guide to running for local office in Louisiana.

Police jury or parish council: find out which your parish has

Louisiana uses parishes, not counties, and each parish has a governing authority. The traditional form is the police jury, whose members are police jurors elected from districts. State election law defines a "ward" as "a police jury ward in a parish" (R.S. 18:2(21)).

Parishes that have adopted a home rule charter set up their own form of government, which may include a parish council and a parish president. For parish council members, the Secretary of State's qualifications chart says: "Check Parish Home Rule Charter for qualifications and term limits."

When the seats are elected. In the Secretary of State's records for the parishes we checked, the terms of police jurors, parish commission members, parish council members and the parish president all end in January 2028, so their successors are chosen at the fall 2027 elections. There are exceptions. The Secretary of State's schedule lists East Baton Rouge Parish (next election 2028) and Plaquemines Parish (2026) on other cycles, and Orleans Parish, where the city council is the governing authority, follows its own schedule (R.S. 18:402(D)(2)). Ask your clerk of court which seats are on your 2027 ballot and which district you live in.

Step 1: Check that you qualify

Police juror. The Secretary of State's qualifications chart, citing R.S. 33:1225, states: "By the date of qualification, the candidate shall have attained the age of 18 years, resided in Louisiana for the preceding 2 years, and been actually domiciled for the preceding year in the district from which the candidate seeks election." The period is measured as of the date you qualify (R.S. 18:451).

Parish council member or parish president. Read your parish's home rule charter. It sets the residency rules, any term limits and any other qualifications.

Every candidate.

• Registration. You must be a qualified elector, which means registered to vote, and your notice of candidacy lists your parish, ward and precinct (R.S. 18:463(A)(1)(a)).
• Felonies. No one under an order of imprisonment for a felony may qualify (R.S. 18:451). The constitution also bars a person convicted of a felony who has not been pardoned, unless more than five years have passed since the original sentence was completed (La. Const. Art. I, Sec. 10.1, as quoted by the Secretary of State).
• One office at a time. You may not be a candidate for more than one office in the same election, except for membership on a political party committee (R.S. 18:453).
• Appointed members. In a parish of more than 10,000 people, a sitting police juror or parish council member who is appointed to fill a vacancy as mayor or parish president may not run for that office in the election to fill the vacancy (R.S. 42:1113, as summarized by the Secretary of State).

Step 2: Choose the fee or a nominating petition

You qualify by filing a notice of candidacy "accompanied either by a nominating petition or by the qualifying fee and any additional fee imposed" (R.S. 18:461(A)(1)). The petition replaces the fee. It is not an extra requirement.

Party committee fees. A party's state central committee and parish executive committee may each add a fee of up to half the qualifying fee for candidates affiliated with that party (R.S. 18:464(C) and (D)). For police juror and parish council candidates, the Secretary of State's chart lists a $57.50 state central committee fee for Democratic and Republican candidates, and a $57.50 parish executive committee fee where the parish committee has assessed one. Ask your clerk of court for your exact total. Fees are paid in cash, by certified or cashier's check on a state or national bank or credit union, by a U.S. postal money order, or by a money order issued by a state or national bank or credit union (R.S. 18:464(A)).

Signatures for a parishwide seat. The Secretary of State's chart lists 100 signatures for a police juror or parish council member, "parishwide or district." State law sets 100 signatures for a member of a parish governing authority elected from throughout a ward, but 400 for "any officer elected from throughout a parish" (R.S. 18:465(C)). If your seat is elected parishwide, confirm the number with your clerk of court before you start.

Petition dates. Signers must be registered to vote on the office, and they may sign no earlier than Monday, April 5, 2027. Submit the petition to the registrar of voters by Tuesday, July 6, 2027. The registrar certifies it and returns the original, which you file with your notice of candidacy. Collect more than the minimum.

Step 3: Qualify with the clerk of court

Qualifying runs from Tuesday, August 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 5, 2027, at the clerk of court for the parish in which you are registered to vote (R.S. 18:462(B); 18:467; 18:468).

1. Choose your ballot name. You may use your given name, initials, a nickname in quotation marks, or a combination, with your surname, but no title or occupational description (R.S. 18:463(A)(1)(b)).
2. List your party designation as your registration shows: your recognized party's name, "other" or "no party." It cannot be changed after you qualify.
3. Sign before a notary or two witnesses (R.S. 18:463(A)(2)(b)). Read every certification, and check with the Louisiana Board of Ethics for any other filings.
4. Bring a valid Louisiana driver's license or identification card and the fee or your certified petition.

A notice counts only if the clerk receives it during qualifying (R.S. 18:466). If, after qualifying closes, no one else has qualified for your seat, you are declared elected and your name does not appear on the ballot (R.S. 18:511(B)). A court action objecting to a candidacy must be filed by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 12, 2027, based on R.S. 18:1405(A).

Step 4: Campaign in your district

In a district race, plan to knock on doors yourself as well as with volunteers. Ask your registrar of voters how to obtain a list of registered voters in your district. As an example only: three people who each knock on 50 doors a week for 14 weeks would reach about 2,100 doors. Set your own numbers from the size of your district.

Keep these dates in front of your volunteers.

• Wednesday, September 8 and Saturday, September 18, 2027: registration deadlines in person or by mail, and online.
• Saturday, September 25 to Saturday, October 2, 2027: early voting, Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (R.S. 18:1309).
• Tuesday, October 5, 2027: the deadline to request a mail ballot from the registrar of voters.
• Saturday, October 9, 2027: primary day, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (R.S. 18:541).

Place campaign signs only on private property with the owner's permission. The notice of candidacy includes a certification that you know the prohibitions on signs on a highway right-of-way, publicly owned property or a utility pole (R.S. 18:463(A)(3)). Our Louisiana 2027 election calendar lists every date, including the November general election.

Step 5: Keep supporters informed by text

In a district race, a short text before early voting reaches the neighbors who asked to hear from you. Set it up in CampaignCNX+ over the summer.

1. Committee and Campaign Verify. Campaign Verify confirms to the carriers (the mobile phone companies) that a political sender is a real campaign. It needs a 527 committee (the federal tax status of a political committee) with an EIN (its federal tax ID number) and a filing with an election authority that is published online. Check that your filing can be viewed online before you request it, and ask Campaign Verify Support if it cannot. A $95 request made on or after Sunday, November 15, 2026 lasts until January 31, 2029. Campaign Verify decides eligibility.
2. Registration. CampaignCNX+ files your carrier registration, as 10DLC (the registration for texting from a standard local-style number) or toll-free, and files your Campaign Verify token with it.
3. Your supporter group. Add only the neighbors who agreed in writing to receive campaign texts, and record the consent date and source in a custom field. Petition signers who did not separately agree are not on this list.
4. A scheduled reminder. Texts send only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's time zone, and STOP replies are handled automatically. For example:

Hi [First name], it's [Name], running for Police Jury District [#]. Early voting is open now through Sat, Oct 2. Reply STOP to opt out.

Pay-as-you-go texting costs $0.06 per SMS segment, and 100 free SMS are included once your number is bought and approved. Your number is $5 a month. For worked examples, see what it costs to text a local race, and for rules that apply to any campaign, see our page on political texting.

Start with your charter or your district map

Find out this month whether your parish has a police jury or a home rule council, which district you live in, and which seats are on the 2027 ballot. When you are ready to keep supporters informed by text, start a CampaignCNX+ trial.